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Balling but not killing. Seems strange

A new queen has been out of the cage for 4 days. Each time I have checked the nuc, there is a huge ball of bees on her but they have not killed her (yet?). I sparyed them with sugar water today and she just walked away and climbed on a different frame.

Any ideas or suggestion? I thought about mixing a little lemon with sugar water tomorrow (if she is still alive and being balled) them sprying everyone in the hive including her, the frames, and side walls.

"You have to put down the ducky if you wanna play the Saxophone!" Mr .Hoot

Re: Balling but not killing. Seems strange

Check the nuc for a virgin or queen cells, it sounds like they are balling to restrain/protect the queen. Are you feeding? I have seen queens balled to prevent them from laying when there was no food in the colony.

Re: Balling but not killing. Seems strange

This week I collected a cast swarm with two virgin queens(unbeknownst to me at the time). Dumped them in a box and put on a queen includer. When I went to remove the includer a couple of days later there were two balls of bees on it. In the centre of one was a light brown dead virgin queen. In the centre of the other was a live black virgin queen. I can only assume they were balling to protect one, while balling to kill the other. Looked identical to me.

Re: Balling but not killing. Seems strange

It's difficult to distinguish between bees balling a queen to protect her and balling a queen to confine her. They are generally not trying to kill her, but the end result, if they ball her long enough, is that she dies...